Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Electric Cars Won’t Save the Environment

Electric Cars Won’t Save the Environment

Recently when the global warming campaign is increasingly important, auto industry is also doing what they can to save the earth. One of the option in this industry is by producing electric vehicle or EV. However, if we look carefully, electric vehicle is not a solution for environmentally friendly things. Last month, Clive Matthew-WIlson, the industry observer, claims that it is a public lie if an electric vehicle is environmentally friendly.

Clive said that based on his observation, when all the vehicles in the world is powered by electricity, it will increase the consumption of household electricity. It means that we will need a more supply energy from the electricity power plant. While the demand of power supply is always increasing, we will also have to increase the power center, whether it is nuclear, atomic, or anything which is included as one of the biggest polluters.

So, electric vehicle will remain as the biggest supplier of carbon dioxide gas. Only that the gas is not directly produced by the vehicle, but from the central power plant. For the example, Clive was took Tesla Roadster electric car from Melbourne to Brisbane, Australia. He said that this trip requires a wasteful energy and producing CO2 more to the PLT.

BMW Will Extend the Range of EV

During the Innovation Day presentation today in Munich, the head of electrical components for BMW, Dr. Christian Schmidt, has revealed that BMW is actually considering to expanding the range of engine for the future electric vehicles. BMW has said from the beginning that their “i” program will bring some various drivetrains from the current hybrid on the 7 Series ActiveHybrid, up to the full EV model like the i3.

A plug in hybrid model will also be presented with the i8, whose combustion engine is mounted in the middle of the car and it has two electric motors. Each of them will drive the rear and front wheels independently. That technology will allow the i8 to run with only electric power or with the combination of an internal combustion engine and electric motors to bring more performance.

Schmidt don’t want to reveal on what vehicles might benefit from a range extender. But you can think yourself by seeing that during the Mini E evaluation, the range complaints were considered minimal. However, each consumer’s wants are different to each other, so the extended hybrid range might be another cog in BMW “i” plans.

BMW Will Extend the Range of EV is a post from: Automotive News and Review

U.S. Dealers for Pagani Huayra Announced

This news is coming from one of the wealthy elite boy in the auto industry, Pagani. They have announced that two of their dealership, a place where you can buy their Pagani Huayra, will be presents in the United States. If you are in the land of U.S. and are interested to buy the Huayra, then you can go to California as both the dealership will be there.

The Auto Gallery in Beverly Hills and the British Motor Cars at the San Francisco have been choosen by Pagani to be their official selling out point in the United States. Both of the dealership will be able to sell the Huayra, but not any of the location will keep the vehicle on stock. Only a demo car which is available there, but it will be held until the press event and for the selected client viewings.

In the future, Pagani will looking if there is an opportunity for them to add some more dealers for their U.S. distribution network. But for the moment, the deliveries for the Huayra there will only be coordinated from these two California dealership. There is no official price for this Huayra, but you will have to bring more money to cover the 9.75 percent tax in Beverly Hills and 9.50 percent in San Francisco.

U.S. Dealers for Pagani Huayra Announced is a post from: Automotive News and Review

Jaguar Preparing the 2011 XJ

Jaguar was said that they will bring an all wheel drive technology to their flagship XJ sedan which will be ready in less that two years. Yes, it might coincide with the mid cycle refresh of the car. Jaguar hopes that this move will results in an increase sales for the northern United States, where previously it was always be their strongest market in the land of the U.S..

According to Jaguar, they were believed that this all wheel drive model will be very crucial in order to maintain that foothold. There are about 70 percent of the sedans which were sold in the Rust Belt send to power to all the four wheels. Jaguar is still also has a plan to raft of their new and redesigned models to improve their total sales around the world.

That plan is still also including the plan to release a small luxury sedan which is slotted below the XF, while the price will start around £28,000. But before that plan is going to be reality, Jaguar is also planning to have a four cylinder diesel version of their XF in order to take away some of the customers of BMW’s diesel 5 Series.

Jaguar Preparing the 2011 XJ is a post from: Automotive News and Review

Volkswagen Jetta Ranked Last Among Small Sedan

Despite the 2011 Volkswagen Jetta has received a new lower base price for $ 15,995, Consumer Reports feels that the more affordable sticker price has become too high for a cost to the vehicle itself. The organization which is always see the things from the customer way has ranked Jetta in the last order among 11 small sedans which were tested in their April edition magazine.

The senior director of the group’s Auto Test Center, David Champion, said that in order to bring the starting price of the car down, VW has lowered the quality of their interior and suspension. That makes the car less sophisticated and compromising handling. The Consumer Reports even call it as the shadow of the agile, well finished car it once was.

Specifically, VW was dinged pretty hard for their fairly poor handling and concerning grip, bad interior fit and finish, even the coarse sound from the 2.5 liter five cylinder engine. CR is also disappointed with the long brake distances and the six speed automatic transmission which is reluctant to downshifitng. It sounds so bad for VW, but I hope with that opinion, they will realize that they were removing the stuffs that makes the Jetta so popular.

Volkswagen Jetta Ranked Last Among Small Sedan is a post from: Automotive News and Review